Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Pearl has been stricken by a mechanical issue, slowing the ship to a crawl and halting a 13-night cruise in Barcelona.
What's at stake impacts literally thousands of passengers. There are 2,300 currently onboard who signed up for a 13-day cruise but have bypassed stops in Monaco and Mallorca - and they aren't sure if they'll make it back to the final stop in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, by Friday, July 5 in time to debark and catch their flights home.
Then there are the 2,400 passengers who were supposed to board the Pearl later that night on July 5 who were notified on July 2 that their cruise has been canceled completely.
In a statement to The Independent newspaper, an NCL spokesperson said: "We recognize the disappointment and inconvenience our guests have experienced as a result of this unforeseen situation and we offer our sincere apologies. Our team is working diligently to assist all of our guests, and we thank them for their continued support and loyalty."
That hasn't assuaged current Pearl passengers or future ones.
Passenger Patricia Del Mar tweeted that she had already flown from Puerto Rico to New York and was awaiting a flight to Rome when she got the news that the July 5 cruise was canceled.
"I just got to NY, my flight to Rome is in an hour. I am from Puerto Rico and after 2 hrs in a call with customer service they just said to go back to PR. They can't solve anything."
NCL has said it would refund the cost of the cruise and any pre-booked excursions, which it is legally obliged to do, but no word on compensation for airline and hotel costs to passengers.
Currently, Norwegian has responded with the following tweet to a few passengers.
In November of 2018, the Norwegian Jade had a mechanical issue that canceled the trip for passengers mid-voyage.
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